The Justice Department can proceed with a civil lawsuit alleging cyclist
Lance Armstrong
defrauded the government by accepting sponsorship money from the U.S. Postal Service while taking performance-enhancing drugs, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.

U.S. Judge
Robert L. Wilkins
in Washington, D.C., denied a request by Mr. Armstrong to dismiss the case. The cyclist had argued that government shouldn't be able to proceed with the lawsuit years later because the Postal Service at the time didn't want to investigate the allegations about doping on the team.

Judge Wilkins, however, noted that members of the cycling team made repeated representations that they were innocent of the claims and Mr. Armstrong insisted the team was clean.

The case began with a whistleblower lawsuit by former teammate
Floyd Landis,
who sued on behalf of the federal government in 2010.

The False Claims Act allows private litigants, such as Mr. Landis, to bring suits claiming fraud against the government and share in the monetary recovery.

The Justice Department decided last year to intervene in Mr. Landis's case and filed its own allegations against Mr. Armstrong.

Government lawyers allege Mr. Armstrong's cycling team defrauded the Postal Service because the sponsorship agreement required the team to follow the rules of cycling's governing bodies, which banned the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

The department said the Postal Service was deceived into paying $40 million to Mr. Armstrong's team from 1998 to 2004, half of which went to Mr. Armstrong personally.

Paul Scott,
a lawyer for Mr. Landis, said he was reviewing the ruling.

Mr. Armstrong admitted last year to doping during his cycling career and has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.

If he and other defendants are found liable for making false claims, they could be forced to pay damages totaling three times the amount of the claims.

Mr. Landis also has admitted to doping and was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title.

Mr. Armstrong, in seeking to have the case dismissed, argued the government waited more than a decade to file its suit because the Postal Service got everything it bargained for: tens of millions of dollars in publicity and exposure to millions of spectators at cycling events.

Judge Wilkins said Mr. Armstrong hasn't shown that the government should have taken earlier steps to investigate.